DUP threaten walkout over Irish border deal

THERESA May’s DUP allies last night threatened to stop supporting the Government if the Prime Minister accepted the Republic of Ireland’s Brexit demands.

Senior Democratic Unionist Party figures held talks with the PM’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell over claims Northern Ireland could be cut adrift from the UK.

It was reported that Mrs May was preparing to commit the Government to maintaining EU regulations in the province after Brexit in order to avoid the need for a so-called ‘hard border’ between the UK and Ireland. But that would create potential barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK – something the DUP regards as unacceptable.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson said: ‘If they stop defending the union, we stop voting for them. It’s as simple as that.

‘If there is any hint that, in order to placate Dublin and the EU, they’re prepared to have Northern Ireland treated differently than the rest of the UK, then they can’t rely on our vote.’ However, a Downing Street source said that the PM was ‘clear that we cannot support anything that would lead to a customs border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland or would damage the UK’s constitutional or economic integrity’.

They said it was ‘impossible’ to resolve the issue in detail before a trade deal was agreed, but added: ‘No one should be in any doubt that our goal is there should be no hard border or physical infrastructure at the border.’ The DUP struck a ‘confidence and supply’ deal after Mrs May failed to win a majority in June’s election, agreeing to back the Conservatives in return for an extra £1billion in Government spending in Northern Ireland.

Some Tories believe yesterday’s strong DUP reaction was designed to bolster domestic support.

A walkout could bring down the Government, but would also mean Northern Ireland losing the extra funding, as well as risking Jeremy Corbyn – seen as an IRA sympathiser by the DUP – getting into No 10.

The Commons Brexit committee today will warn a return of border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic appears inevitable.

MPs say it seems impossible to reconcile the Government’s decision to pull out of the single market and customs union with its declared intention for a ‘frictionless’ border.

But its report was rejected by four

‘There’s still a way to go’

Tory members and the lone Democratic Unionist on the committee. It comes amid talks between the UK, Ireland and Brussels aimed at easing Dublin’s concerns.

Ireland has warned it will hold up negotiations unless the UK makes several legal guarantees, including calls for Northern Ireland to effectively keep EU rules. British negotiators are understood to have set out initial promises but Irish sources said: ‘There is still a way to go.’

Mrs May is expected to make an increased offer in Brussels on Monday, which is described as the ‘absolute deadline’ to break the impasse.

But insiders said her meeting with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker may be called off if agreement is not found before then.

With a deal nearing on EU citizens’ rights and broad agreement on the ‘divorce bill’, insiders said issues over Northern Ireland posed the biggest headache. European Council president Donald Tusk meets taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin today in a bid to break the deadlock.